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COPYRIGHTED 1916, BY T. SHIOTA 



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3)CI.A4274«9 



MAR 28 1916 




T. SHIOTA 

japanesk landscape architect 

and architect 

254 Fifth Avenue, New York City 




The moss .growing on the ancient statues 
speaks to us of the past : it whispers to us 
of legends which were already legends ten 
centuries ago. 

(Miss G. Scofield. Tuxedo Park. N. Y. I 



The illustrations here shown are photographs and sketches 
of the completion of my personal designs and workmanship. 



JAPANESE GARDENS AND HOUSES 



THE GARDEN 

The Japanese Garden has been known for thirteen hundred 
years as a special feature of domestic life in Japan, and has there 
developed as a purely native art. It has recently been introduced 
into America and Europe, and the work of creating it ranks among 
the fine arts. 

A Japanese Garden may be called an idealized reproduction 
of certain aspects of the natural scenery of Japan. 

Japan consists of several hundred large and small islands, situ- 
ated in the most active volcanic part of the globe. The coast line 
is broken and beautiful, the interior is very mountainous; trees, 
shrubs, climbers, creepers and other plants are abundant and are 
watered by frequent rains. Swift-flowing streams, tumbling water- 
falls and beautiful lakes are on every hand. All these natural gifts 
make a landscape so beautiful that Japan has been called the "Park 
of the World." This beauty of nature helped to develop in the 
people who daily looked upon it a keen and well-nigh universal 
aesthetic sense. The student of the literature and art of Japan 
soon discovers how greatly devoted to nature and how full of love 
for it were the ancestors, even centuries ago. of the present inhabi- 
tants. 

As the painter produces a landscape on canvas with brush and 
paint, so the landscape garden artist, with pick, shovel, rocks, soil, 
water, trees, plants, sculptures and buildings, makes a work of art 
which we call a Japanese Garden ; nature inspiring the artist with 
her beauty and the artist in turn informing nature with a new spirit 
and producing an idealized landscape. 



CHARACTERISTICS OF THE GARDEN 

In making his appeal to the aesthetic sense, the Japanese 
garden artist seeks to produce the effect of venerable age, of peace 
and of harmony — the opposites of the newness, tumult and worry 
of modern civilization — as well as of beauty. He wishes his handi- 
work to be a place of rest and of pleasure for body and mind and, 
sometimes, a place for social functions as well as an ornamental 
setting for the house. 




The gracious maiden prepares tea for the awaited 
guest. Tea house and tea garden. 

(Mr. George Gould, Lakewood, N. J.) 



In a well-wrought Japanese garden effective use is made of 
natural features and resources. By the apt handling of perspective, 
it is made to seem as broad and as deep as possible. Even in a 
small space an effect may be obtained as of the actual presence of 
mountains and lakes. Trusting somewhat to the imagination of 
the spectator, the artist can even suggest a waterfall where no 
water is; he can bring out the thought of a river by a bridge or of 
a seashore by an artfully arranged beach of white sand. 




One method of treating a small space to make it appear broader 
and deeper, and at the same time more beautiful. The stepping 
stones rest upon the bare ground; grass grows around the roots 
of the tree. 



The garden of the Japanese artist differs much from nearly all 
other gardens. To it every season gives its own special charm. In 
the spring the chief note is of greenness ; in midsummer, of cool 
shade; in the autumn, of gay foliage, and even a dreary winter is 
brightened by the peculiar charms that a snow-clad landscape can 
show; early dawn and twilight bring out peculiar beauties of their 
own ; and moonlight makes it seem a garden of dreams. 



WHAT KIND OF A GARDEN SHALL WE BUILD? 

Japanese gardens are of four kinds: (1) Tsnkiyama, (2) Hir- 
aniwa, (ii) Chaniwa, (4) Hannaniwa. 

(1) Tsnkiyama is the representative Japanese landscape 
garden. In its perfect form it has mountains, hills, lakes, islands 
cliffs, forests, waterfalls and rivers; and these, being properly 
arranged and artfully proportioned to one another, give the observer 
an impression of that grandeur which is the natural accompaniment 



of so much of the scenery of Japan. It is adorned with trees, rocks, 
pavilions, bridges, stone lanterns, shrines, etc. This is the funda- 
mental type of landscape garden. It permits of unlimited varia- 
tions in its treatment. There is no spot, however limited in extent, 
upon which it cannot be constructed and made to seem at once 
appropriate and impressive. 

(2) Hiraniwa is a garden built on the flat ground with a few 
rocks or trees as its principle features, these being notable for pic- 
turesqueness and beauty. It is always so arranged in part as to 
suggest the sea coast and an island. Gardens of this type are 
treated in a more idealistic and poetic way than are those of any 
of the other forms. 




A corner of a tea garden. 
(Mr. George Gould, Lakewood, N. J.) 

(3) Chaniwa is primarily a quiet, harmonious garden-setting 
for a tea-house. The tea-house itself is so designed and placed as 
to give the impression that it is half hidden in a deep wood, or 
sheltered by a great tree far in the mountains. A winding forest 
path and the borders of a lake are suggested if not actually present. 

(4) Hananiwa is a flower garden, with cherry, plum and peach 




A waterfall far in the mountains. Though 
in reality small, it is so constructed as to 
give one an impression of dignity and 
grandeur. A cascade like this can be 
placed to good advantage in a very small 
garden which might be in the yard of a 
city hou'-ie, or even in a conservatory. 



trees in bloom ; irises, chrysanthemums, wistaria, azaleas and 
other kinds of flowers — all in their proper seasons. The beauty of 
Japanese flowers is well known, and in a garden of this type that 
beauty is used to the full. 




The Japan Society, in New York, hold an exhibition to disclose 
to American eyes the beauty and charm of the Japanese 
house and garden. It was my good fortune to be given the 
delightful task of laying out this exhibition. The results 
were greatly admired by the hundreds of daily visitors, and 
were much praised by the journals of the city. 



BEFORE MAKING A PRELIMINARY DESIGN. 



It is very important, before a garden spot is chosen and the 
general plan outlined, to decide what kind of a garden is to be 
constructed. Then, the spot for it having been selected, the natural 
conditions must be studied and the tastes and preferences of the 
owner considered, all before a preliminary design is submitted. 




A parlor in a Japanese house; note its simplicity and dignity. 



THE VALUE OF THE GARDEN. 

The artist's chief purpose in constructing a Japanese garden 
is to bring forth an artistic production. The garden maker, like 
any other artist, must have taste, originality in design, and ability 
to carry out his design. The merit of the garden depends as much 
on the person who designs it as does a painting on the artist, a 
poem on the poet, or music on the singer. 



ARCHITECTURE 

The present day architecture of Japan originated in India, 
was introduced into China with Buddhism, and thence reached Japan 
by way of Corea. Indian architecture was, however, greatly modi- 




Shrine. 



fied by the architecture already 
existing in Japan, the result 
being not merely a modification 
of the Indian, but something 
quite peculiar to Japan itself. 

ARCHITECTURAL 

CHARACTERISTICS 

Japanese architecture. in 
both exterior and interior, is 
entirely different from that of 
America or Europe. In Japan, 
up to a few years ago, even 
the largest buildings were made 
of wood. Iron, stone, brick, 
and cement were almost never 
used. As a rule the wood was 
used in its natural color with- 




Morning view of a garden gate. 
(Mr. George Gould, Lakewood. X. J.) 



.;/%;; 




T.5h>«>r^ 




Tea house. 



out paint, and was carefully selected to produce the beautiful effects 
which were sought. 

The method of constructing a building was what is called 
Kusabi Shiki, that is, with mortise and tenon. It was put together 
by assembling parts so made that they fitted together perfectly, 
nails being used only in certain special parts. 

Partly because the climate of Japan is so warm, and partly for 
other reasons, social, traditional and aesthetic, Japanese houses have 
permanent walls on one or two sides only. The other sides are 
open to the air save for semi-transparent, sliding screens, called 
shoji, made of paper stretched on light frames of wood. These are 
easily pushed to one side, leaving the whole interior open to the 
garden. The interior partitions are made of similar light screens, 
sometimes of wood and sometimes of paper, and often decorated with 
beautiful paintings. 



The roofs are of rushes, shingles or tiles, and the eaves project 




far enough to protect the 
open sides from the rain. 

These projecting eaves give 
to the house a certain pictur- 
esque look. 

Straw mats, called tatanii, 
are exactly fitted to each 
room, and no shoes are worn 
inside the house. On these 
mats (Futons), cushions are 
spread to sit upon or to sleep 
upon. Those who were priv- 
ileged to set' the opera "Mad- 
am Butterfly" will recall the 
arrangements thus briefly de- 
scribed. 



Morning Snow. 
(Mr. C. Brown, Staten Island. X. Y.i 



Japanese architecture, even 
in dwelling houses, has developed on the decorative side at the 
expense of utility; and shrines, tea houses and summer houses de- 
veloped through the centuries into things of beauty, which are now 
much admired by both Europeans and Americans. 



WHAT KIND OF A BUILDING SHALL WE CHOOSE? 

We say a "Japanese house" as if all the houses of Japan were 
of one type only. As a matter of fact there are many kinds and 
sizes. Which then shall we choose? In America the Japanese 
building is not constructed as a house in which to live. It is built 
either for its beauty alone, or for its beauty and for its use as a 
place in which to pass pleasantly an hour or two of leisure. The 
shrine and the temple are usually erected for their beauty; the 
tea-house and pavilion for use. 

The building can be constructed as part of. or as an addition 




Bridge ; picture taken at noon on a 
summer day. 

(Mr. C. Brown, Staten Island, N. Y.) 




Another bridge; picture taken in the early 
inoruing of a spring day. 

(Mr. P. Saklatvala, Plainfield, N. J.) 



to, a garden; it can be modern, quaint, antique, simple, decorative, 
solemn or gay. The question of which style to select must be de- 
cided by position, surroundings, the purpose in view and the taste 
of the owner. It is my custom to take all these things into con- 
sideration and then to submit a design, always making sure that 
it comforms to the rules of the best Japanese architecture. 




A Torii ; at sunrise in autumn. 



HARMONY BETWEEN 

AMERICAN SCENERY 

AND THE JAPANESE 

GARDEN OR LANDSCAPE 

Some doubt whether the Jap- 
anese garden can be made to har- 
monize with American surround- 
ings, natural and artifical. My 
experience leads me to say that 
there is no difficulty on this point. 
It is my business to make them 
harmonize. One may say that a 
landscape which is unusual in ap- 
pearance and therefor unfamiliar, 
is not harmonious with a familiar setting. But surely, no arrange- 
ment can be said to be inharmonious merely because it is not familiar. 

My purpose in building- a Japanese garden is always to produce 
something artistic, something that will give pleasure to the eye. to 
the aesthetic sense, just as does a painting or a piece of sculpture. 
I make a study of surroundings and then cause my garden to fit 
into them as into a frame. The gardens I have created, and the 
favorable criticisms thereon of connoisseurs, seem to show that I 
have been successful in my work. My views on Japanese land- 
scapes and gardens are set forth in publications by the Brooklyn 
Botanical Garden and by the Newark, N. J., Museum Association, 
and are illustrated in the accompanying pictures. 

My work has been quite fully described in the newspapers and 
magazines of Chicago, New York and other cities. 




A moonlight effect in the spring 
(Brooklyn Botanic Garden.) 




An evening effect in the spring 
(Brooklyn Botanic Garden.) 




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I'ine tree trained with care for ninny years. 




These lions were first wrought t<> guard a 
temple gate. They now decorate impressively 
the entrance to the Japanese garden in the roof 
garden of the Hotel Astor. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



000 882 413 7 



LIBRARY ur 



000 882 413 7 



THE ALEXANDER PRESS 
Mil lit W 27TH ST N > 



